With the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup coming closer to its
business end, we see more and more local and international brands getting
aggressively involved in Cricket World Cup related marketing promotions
campaigns. Even in Sri Lanka, we see a lot of radio and TV stations, super
market chains, Telco companies and many more companies doing various marketing
activities in parallel to the ICC Cricket World Cup.

However, most of these marketing campaigns are done in a
manner they violate the stipulated rules and regulations by the ICC to protect
ICC’s own intellectual property rights (IPR) and the best interest of the ICC
commercial partners.

Oh wait…Are there regulations like that? I suppose, some of
you may ask. Yes, it’s true most marketers in Sri Lanka do not know that there
are such regulations governing a brand’s ability or inability to run a CWC
associated promotion and from the ones who are aware of that fact, a vast
majority is simply ignoring the rules thinking that the ICC is not enforcing
those regulations in Sri Lanka.

I am not a lawyer, so please don’t take any of the opinions
and recommendations mentioned below as legal advice. If you are a marketer who is
concerned about the implication of these ICC regulations, please consult your
company’s designated legal partners to get the best interpretation of ICC
regulations.

This document clearly defines what are the protected IPRs of
ICC and clearly explain why the interests of ICC commercial partners are
protected in these guidelines. All the ICC commercial partners pay a huge sum
of sponsorship fee to ICC for the conducting of ICC Cricket World Cup. After
investing that amount of money for this gala event, is it fair for ICC to turn
a blind eye on the competitors of these commercial partners getting mileage out
of Cricket World Cup? Definitely not. That’s why, ICC is putting this much emphasis
on the rights of the commercial partners.

For example, after investing a huge sum of money to become
the official beverage partner of ICC World Cup, Pepsi would never want to see
Coca-Cola running an under the crown promotion to give away World Cup match
tickets (a simple example). By now I guess you realized it well; this is why
the Sri Lanka cricket team is not wearing their official sponsor’s logo on
their world cup jersey. Because, Reliance India is the official
telecommunications partner for Cricket World Cup so for their best interest ICC
has ruled out the possibility of any other telco brand to have space on player
jerseys for this world cup. Yes, Dialog may be the official sponsor for Sri
Lanka cricket team but ICC is bigger than SLC. In that scenario, Dialog is
considered a competitor of a commercial partner of ICC for this world cup and
hence being deprived of taking any advantage of their national team sponsorship
during the World Cup matches.

Now, does this mean
none of the ICC commercial partners can do any marketing communications with
related to the World Cup? No, it’s not the case. As you may realize, all these
things are governed by a “law” and as always every law has a flaw in it.

There’s so much that ICC can do to protect their commercial
partners. Beyond that, the competition can take control. For example, according
to the television broadcasting rights agreements, every channel who gets the
license to broadcast CWC matches in each country are supposed to offer their
sponsorship deals exclusively to the ICC commercial partners in the first round
of offering (no bidding allowed). If any of the ICC commercial partners are not
buying the advertising properties on the TV channel, then the channel can put
it openly on sale for any interested advertiser. This is how Channel Eye studio
discussion advertising property ended up in the hands of Mobitel. Now, Mobitel
being (technically) a competitor of Reliance, can still use a CWC property to
advertise their brand (which is perfectly legal). Problem arises, if Mobitel
(for example) start running promotions during this broadcast directly linking
to the CWC matches. For example, asking questions like “what would be the first
innings score of today’s Pakistan Vs UAE match?” and then selecting a winner
would be a violation of ICC promotions and brand regulations (refer the doc).

Now, there are lawful ways of brands sneaks through these
promotions guidelines.

In reality, Reliance, LG, Pepsi, MRF, Emirates, Reebok,
Castrol, Moneygram, Hyundai, ESPN Star, and SAP are the only commercial
partners ICC has who can have a commercial association with the ICC World Cup.

Any competitor of those brands attempting to create a
commercial association (running promotions directly linked to CWC matches,
offering tickets to the final etc) with World Cup is both unlawful and
unethical.

HOWEVER, anyone (including brands - who are legally
"persons") can use their Social Media profiles to "report",
"discuss" and "engage" about matches which takes place in
the CWC with an intention of "information sharing" (no
commercial/trade association).

For example, when Mahela Jayawardene scores a century,
Samsung or CEAT Facebook pages may put a status congratulating his achievement,
but LG or MRF can't make a lawsuit out of it for violating ICC regulations.
Technically, a tweet is not an advertisement, so mentioning “Congratulations
Mahela for that wonderful century against Afghanistan” on Samsung Twitter
account is not at all creating a commercial association between the Cricket World
Cup and brand Samsung.

You can run promotions for your brand during the World Cup
season, using only the word “Cricket” (and not World Cup) or the other way
around (World Cup, but no mentioning about Cricket). You can run “Cricket
Quizzes” and give away non-CWC15 related gifts during the World Cup season,
which is perfectly a legal way of riding on the cricket wave. Or, you can run
“World Cup” related raffle draw and give away non-CWC related gifts. Because,
ICC’s IPR protects only “Cricket World Cup”, as FIFA, IRB and many other sports
bodies maybe sharing the term ‘World Cup’ so nobody can claim exclusive rights
for that.

OK, those were my interpretations and as I mentioned before,
take this advices at your own risk or consult your lawyer :-) I am not
responsible for you getting sued by ICC for trying out any of these suggested
options.

For better clarity, read the full document published by the
ICC. For simplicity, let me quote two of the most relevant paragraphs from that
document to end this blog post.

What uses are unlawful without a licence from the ICC?The unlicensed and unauthorised use of any of the ICC CWC
Names, ICC CWC Marks (or any other marks or logos that are confusingly similar
to, or likely to be mistaken for, them) or ICC CWC Footage is strictly
prohibited. For example, without a licence from the ICC, it is unlawful to
(i) use the ICC CWC Names and ICC CWC Marks in a manner
likely to cause confusion among P a g e | 6 members of the public as to the
existence of a commercial association with the ICC CWC 2015, or
(ii) reproduce or distribute items using ICC CWC 2015 IPR in
the course of trade. The ICC CWC Names and ICC CWC Marks cannot be used on
goods, in business names or in advertising or promotions without a licence from
the ICC or one of its authorised licensees that, in turn, has the rights to
grant sub-licenses.

It is also unlawful, through the use of ICC CWC 2015 IPR, to
falsely represent or imply any association, affiliation, endorsement,
sponsorship or similar relationship with the ICC CWC 2015. It is important to
note that a formal or pre-existing association with any of the participating
national teams, players or the tournament venues does not permit a team
partner, team sponsor, player sponsor or venue sponsor any right to use the ICC
CWC 2015 IPR (other than the specific rights such team is authorised by the ICC
to licence) without the prior authorisation of the ICC.

When can the ICC CWC 2015 IPR be used?
The ICC CWC 2015 IPR can be used with the licence and
authorisation of the ICC or its authorised licensees that have been expressly
granted the rights to grant sub-licenses. Such licence and authorisation will
only be given to official ICC CWC 2015 sponsors, partners, licensees and
noncommercial partners. There are very few situations in which the ICC CWC 2015
IPR can be used without the ICC’s explicit licence and consent.

The ICC CWC Names, ICC CWC Marks and, to a limited extent
and subject to the ICC CWC 2015 Media Accreditation Terms and Conditions and
news access guidelines (and all relevant copyright laws), the ICC CWC Footage,
may be used for news reporting purposes in noncommercial editorial-only pieces
without the ICC’s prior authorisation. In certain circumstances when reporting
and providing information on the ICC and/or the ICC CWC 2015, journalists are
able to use the ICC CWC Names and ICC CWC Marks to illustrate their
editorial-only feature subject to full compliance with applicable laws and
regulations. Such use of ICC CWC 2015 IPR must be in compliance with these
Guidelines. The ICC’s intention is not to restrict people from interacting with
the ICC CWC 2015 or providing or sharing information on the ICC CWC 2015, but,
when they do so, the ICC’s legal rights must be recognised, respected and fully
adhered to.

PS
Mentioning on certain brand names on this post was solely for the purpose explaining the concepts, but in no way I intend to mean those brands are violating the ICC brand and content protection guidelines.